Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1887-11-03
A FAMOUS DUELIST.
Some Interesting Stories Of a
Noted French Fire Eater.

ton. No traces of it are to be found
among any of the nations of anti
putty. The medieval trial by brute
force would seem to have been the
foundation of the modern duel. The
first recognition of single combat as
regular judicial proceeding is to be
found in the laws of Gundebald,
King of the Burgundians, at the begin
ming OF the sixth century. The prac-
tice spread rapidly mong the warlike
Franks, and in the reign of Charlie
magne, three hundred years later,
1t had become so universal that not
only the parties in common suit at
law, but the witnesses and even the
judges were constantly summoned to
mortal combat in support of the JUS
tice of their cause, the truth of their
testimony or the uprightness of their
decisions. This manner OF trial was
afterward restricted by Louis VII to
the decision OF criminal accusations of
civil causes, when, as shown by the
ordinance he rendered in 1853, the OBJ
tect of the dispute exceeded five "sols,
or cents, in value--fve cents in those
days being, of course, much larger
sum than it is to-day.
These laws and customs are the
sources of the duel and it is from this
ancient practice of making the sword
the scale of justice that the modern
duel, modified from time to time, has
descended to us. Single combat as a
judicial proceeding did not, however.
survive the fifteenth century. and with
its gradual disappearance the modern
duel became the recognized means of
indicating offended honor. Italy was
the first great field for this modified
single combat. Thence the rage
spread with redoubled fury into
France, Spain and Great Britain. In
England we hear little of it before the
profligate days of the Stuarts. But it
is France that affords the most detailed
and authorized records of dueling.
The French Kings and Parliament long
maintained its formal and practical le-
gality. Henry II. presided, with his
whole court, at the combat between M.
de Acknowledgements and M. de Jarnac,
caused by scandal, which terminated
in the death of La Chataigneraie;
when de Jarnac, his hands yet reeking
with his kinsman's blood, raised them
to Heaven and exclaimed: mot unto
me, o Lord, but unto Thy name be
thanks" Charles TX. was the last
French King who presided at one OF
these exhibitions; so he was also the
first who sought to check the practice
by naming "Court of Honor" for the
satisfaction of offenses committed
against its laws. In Henry Tvs
reign, and in defiance of his edicts in.
flicting the penalty Of death on all du.
elists, there fell in duels no fewer thar
four thousand of his subjects, while up
wards of fourteen thousand pardons
were granted for fighting.
About half way up the Rue de Jour
near the Sainte-Eustache Church, il
Paris, is an old house, rendered con
spicuous by wide porch and extensiv,
stock-in-tfade OF china This, tive
centuries ago, was the Hotel de Roy
aumont, built by Philippe Hurault
Bishop of Charles and Able of Royau
mont Later on, 1t was occupied b,
Francois de Montmorency, Comte d.
Bouteville, who made it genera
rendezvous for the duelists of Paris
All the gentlemen of the court cage
to challenge any of their peers owe
some love intrigue, or who for SOM
personal motive looked daggers a
each other on the Place Royale or tn
Cour la Refine, met at the mansion II
the Rue du Jour. Here they were hos
pitably received and entertained; the,
were offered cold collation. wit
wines and liquors before entering tn
lists, and those who had forgotten t
bring weapons were provided with
goodly selection of polished steel
Throughout the morning there was a
incessant clash of blades, each thrus
and parry being watched with intens
interest by veterans, who, after oil
scores had been wiped off, and tn
resident surgeon had bandaged tn
combatants' wounds, were invite
with the duelists and their second:
to luncheon with the Comte de BoutC
vile.
1t would doubtless be vain que:
to seek, nowadays, for a single repre-
sentative of this defunct race of due
lists. race to which Choquart evident
ly belonged. He must have had al
cestors among the exquisites of th
reign of Louis XIIL, the swash-buch
lers of the Hotel de Royaumont or tn
splendid corps of musketeers of LOU
XIV. Choquart's mania for duelins
his ever-recurring provocations to de
eide a difference at the swords poir
made of him public character; an
his reputation was perhaps heightene
rather than diminished by the fac
that his most terrible challenges wei
unable to withstand the offer of
peaceful solution over bowl of puncl
His guileless talk and southern accen
his peculiar way of lisping and oth'
physical oddities, gave to his dali
Odyssey a smack of the most genuin
comic buffoonery.
When the mania for fighting ws
strong within him it was difficult
evade his mood One day he woul
enter a coffee-house. take his seat an
say to q near neighbour;